


This is Earth

by stealthyseaborne



Category: Rhett & Link
Genre: Alien Planet, Aliens, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Kryptonian, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-19
Updated: 2017-06-25
Packaged: 2018-11-16 04:21:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11246202
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stealthyseaborne/pseuds/stealthyseaborne
Summary: Link is yearning for a life that he cannot have and is searching for meaning on a planet that he still doesn't fully understand when a chance encounter on a North Carolina highway changes his life forever.





	1. What is life?

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fanfic so I hope it isn't too terrible. I'm not exactly sure where this story is going so bear with me here. I'm a huge fan of Superman and Supergirl and I love Rhett and Link so I've been wanting to combine my two favorite things.

Link knew that he shouldn’t be hiding his true identity, but he was much too afraid to do anything about it. He didn’t dare turn on the tv because he knew they would be reporting Supergirl saving National City from an alien invasion. Again. Or reports of Superman defeating another evil villain hell-bent on destroying humanity. He was sick of feeling shame so deep that it reverberated through his soul at every mention of their names so he was going to sit on his couch and sulk about it for a little bit until he felt a bit more settled. Less on edge. He knew they were far more heroic than him, but he also knew that he was a coward. He always had been. Anyway, it didn’t help his already battered self-esteem when he turned on the tv to see his heroic relatives saving the world once again while he was hiding in North Carolina working at a software company. Pathetic.  
He hadn’t been lucky with his adoptive parents. They told him that he was an abomination, beat him into submission, and frightened him into obedience. They didn’t understand who he was or where he came from and he was too young to explain it to them. He was a sensitive kid and he had tried so hard to make them proud of him. He was a good kid in school, had worked hard to great grades, played soccer, and tried to blend into everyone else around him in his small North Carolina town. He did so well in school that he went to college at NC State on a scholarship, graduated with an engineering degree, and had gotten a great job at IBM, all without their help, but it wasn’t enough. His parents were too ashamed of him, still frightened of his abilities, and the emergence of two new Kryptonians had made them even more hostile to him, so it wasn’t a total surprise to come home from work on his 25th birthday to discover a voicemail from them telling him never to contact them again. He had been relieved at the time, but he wasn’t too sure about that now. He missed them.  
Even three years later, the loneliness stung him and sinks into his bones in the worst possible ways when he is quiet and alone like right now. He can never help but think about what his life could have been if Krypton hadn’t been destroyed and if he hadn’t been launched into space in a pod on route to Earth. Or hell. Whatever, it’s all the same anyway. He sometimes thinks of his real parents, but it’s still too much to handle.  
He went to work, he made everything run smoothly and efficiently at a corporation that he didn’t care about, had meetings with bosses that he couldn’t stand, and took long naps in his truck during lunch to pass the time. The closest people he had in his life to friends were work acquaintances that he barely knew and his social life was comprised totally of small talk at the water cooler. Most days, he couldn’t even remember their names and he spent all day counting down the minutes until the workday was over so that he could go home, even if there was nothing waiting for him.  
And that’s where he is right now. He is sitting on his too expensive couch, in his too expensive apartment in Raleigh, North Carolina sulking like a toddler. He hates this loft and this couch and all this crap that he has filled his life with because it is all meaningless and hollow. Even after all these years, his heart longs for a place that doesn’t exist anymore, people that are long dead, and a life that was within his grasp and ripped away from him. Sometimes he feels like a piece of his soul died when he was launched away from the only place he’d ever known. That maybe a piece of him was left back on the beautiful surface of Krypton that he so longed to see again. It’s nights like these, sitting on his couch and looking out into the skyline of Raleigh, that he can’t help but wonder if he will ever be whole again.  
\------------------------------  
Link had jumped out of bed after yet another night of tossing and turning with an impulsive idea. He had made a hasty decision to book a cabin in rural North Carolina, and jumped in his truck and to get away from the city for the weekend. The city was suffocating him.  
So that’s why he found himself speeding down the highway at top speed, escaping Raleigh and hoping to outrun his troubles. He’d turned on the radio soon after he pulled out of his driveway and was delighted to hear Merle Haggard playing on the radio. Life was already better with just a little bit of country music blaring through his speakers.  
His plan to escape seemed to be working. He felt his spirit get lighter with every mile traveled and the wind blowing his hair softly through his open window made him feel more alive than he had in years. Oh, the Good ole’ Carolina countryside. He should’ve done this years ago.  
He knew he was driving a little too fast and he knew it was risky, but he was feeling too good to slow down.  
He idly noticed out of his periphery that another vehicle had pulled onto the highway from a side access road, but the detail barely registered in his distracted state. He was in the middle of belting out the chorus of Hello when he saw a violent collision in his rear view mirror. Before he had fully processed what had happened, the vehicle burst into flames.  
Without thinking, he pulled his truck onto the shoulder of the highway and flew a few hundred yards to the vehicle. He reached the door, gave it one quick yank, and felt the door fly off its hinge. He thoughtlessly threw the door clear of the wreckage and took a moment to look through the smoke to glance at the man trapped in his seat. He looked to be around his age and wore faded cargo shorts and a red NC State t-shirt. Interesting. He had passed out and was bleeding profusely from his head.  
He was still handsome though, but that unexpected thought was enough to jerk him out of his thoughts and into action. Where had that come from? He reached into the car to find the man’s seat belt and felt that it was jammed from the collision. He took a deep breath and tugged hard at it once and it wouldn’t give. He tried it a second time and sighed in relief when it gave way in his hand. He quickly picked the man up in his arms bridal style and carried him a safe distance away from the crash.  
He looked around for a second after he had put the man down and realized what he had just done. He was suddenly struck with an intense wave of nausea as his eyes landed on a crowd of bystanders to the rescue. He glanced down at the man still passed out on the ground and took in his blonde locks that were caked with blood and his face blackened with soot, alive and so very handsome.  
He couldn’t pull his eyes away from the man on the ground until he heard police sirens quickly approaching the scene of the accident.  
So he did what he always did best, he jumped in his truck and sped away. Now he actually had something to run from.  
\---------  
The rest of the drive to the cabin passed in a haze of confusion and continuous waves of panic that left him shaking and pale at the driver’s seat of his truck, but he hadn’t stopped until he reached his cabin in the woods. It was beautiful, silent, and completely isolated. It was exactly what he had thought he needed, but he was too sick with anxiety to enjoy any of it.  
He was still so confused about his reaction to the unknown man from the car. Why had he not simply left the man behind? Why had he stuck around and risked someone discovering his identity? After all, he had no friendships, had no meaningful connections with anyone. What made this man so different?  
He had made himself not turn on the tv or listen to the radio since he got to the cabin, lest his mistake glare back at him through the tv screen. He simply wanted it all to go away. He was so very afraid that if he turned on his tv set that the headlines would feature his name and that his parent’s worst fears would be confirmed. Their son was a freak.  
“Screw it!”, he screamed out in his empty cabin. He grasped the remote tightly in his hand and turned on the tv. He flipped to the first local news channel he could find and held his breath. Of course, he didn’t have to wait long at all. His heart stopped when the Breaking News graphic flashed on the screen and a generic reporter appeared reporting from a familiar stretch of North Carolina highway. She described Rhett McLaughlin’s horrific crash and the circumstances surrounding his harrowing rescue at the hands of an unknown man. Witnesses, that Link vaguely recognized as the bystanders who had stared at him wide eyed and mouths wide open in shock, described the rescuer as a tall man with shaggy black hair with glasses wearing a baseball cap, jeans, and a bright blue t-shirt. They said the man had driven an older model truck with North Carolina plates. They breathlessly described a man who had flown out of his truck directly into the flames and pulled the man out of the vehicle completely unharmed.  
Link couldn’t bear to look away when an undated picture flashed on the screen of the man Link now knew to be Rhett McLaughlin. It took his breath away. He was even more beautiful when his face wasn’t obscured with black soot, and with his long blonde locks stuck straight up into the air with some sort of hair product. He also noticed that he hadn’t realized that the man had a chinstrap beard. Or maybe the man had shaved it since this picture had been taken, he wasn’t sure. His memory of the incident was fuzzy at best. He sighed when the news shifted to a segment about North Carolina flowers and he turned the tv off quickly.  
He didn’t know what had come over him, it wasn’t the first time he had encountered an accident or a crisis that needed to be addressed. He wasn’t proud of it, but he had simply ignored it and continued on with his business unbothered and unconcerned. This was different. He had felt it when he saw the crash in his mirror and had made an unconscious decision to act before the car had burst into flames. He hadn’t hesitated to run directly into the flaming inferno even though it was completely opposed to his personality. His body had simply moved in autopilot and his brain had seemed to have taken a break. His heart had raced, but he hands hadn’t shook. He had never been more certain of anything in his whole life. It felt right, but he didn’t understand why.  
His brain hurt with the strain of reliving those few minutes over and over again and he couldn’t stop thinking about Rhett. Something about him called out to him in a way he had never felt before, he felt something inside of him warming and a tug in his soul that he couldn’t quite interpret.  
Briefly, he entertained calling into the news station and confessing to be the rescuer just to be able to visit Rhett one more time, but he quickly dismissed it when he thought about the consequences. His life would change completely and he wasn’t ready for that. He wasn’t ready to admit what he had done, but for the first time since Superman appeared in Metropolis he felt the knot of guilt loosen inside of him and he felt like he could finally breath again. He fell into a soundless sleep for the first time in years.


	2. The Past and the Present

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rhett and Link separately reflect on the accident and what it might mean for them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yep, I still don't really know where this is going, but who knows. This wasn't beta'd so any mistakes are my own stupid fault.

21 Years Ago- The Surface of Planet Krypton  
Link was seven years old when the skies went dark and the ground shook. His father gathered him up into his arms and ran towards the transport hub. Young Link was confused and didn’t understand what was happening.  
“Father,” Link said, “What is going on? Where are we going? And where is Mother?”  
His father didn’t answer him, but instead he simply ran faster. Link didn’t attempt to ask his father any more questions. He simply looked around at the chaos that had descended upon Krypton. He saw the workers that were huddled along the streets, faces stained with sweat and tears, their eyes filled with fear as he quickly passed by them, safely tucked in his father’s arms. He looked at the soaring skyline of Krypton that he loved so much, its formerly bright and grand buildings were crumbling to the ground with the wreckage descending to the ground like snow. He glanced at the ground under his father’s feet and saw it splitting with every step his father took.  
He couldn’t make sense of what was happening. None of it made sense.  
Link’s eyes darted back and forth as he searched for Rao, the Great Red Sun that sustained all life on Krypton. For the first time in his life, Rao wasn’t visible to him or anybody else on Krypton. The Red Sun, which had always shined proudly above Krypton and bathed it in beautiful red light, had dimmed.  
It was at that moment that his father reached one of the only low-towering structures on Krypton, the transport hub. He put Link back on the ground and took his hand into his and dragged Link behind him into the now desolate interior. It was silent now that all of its inhabitants had fled in terror. There was evidence of large amounts of people fleeing in a hurry with debris spread all over the floors as the roof had begun to collapse under pressure.  
Link knew where his father was taking him, in fact, he had visited it many times before. His father was a scientist and had been constructing something in secret, but he hadn’t been willing to tell Link what it was. Without people continually stopping his father in the halls of this building, the journey through the winding halls and terminals was much quicker than usual. His father paused at the door of his office and bent down to Link’s level and looked directly into his son’s eyes.  
“Son, something terrible has happened today, your mother was killed when the shaking started and now the planet is going to be destroyed. I tried so hard to warn the council of the dangerous changes the planet was undergoing and the possibility of a catastrophe, but they wouldn’t listen. Since I could not spare Krypton from its coming calamity, I began constructing this machine because I knew that this day would come and I didn’t want my only son to die on this planet.”  
He then picked Link up into his arms in a hug and began whispering in his ear, his voice breaking. “This machine will launch you away from here and eventually you’ll land on another planet, safe and sound, but Link no matter where you land, never forget that I loved you more than I loved life itself.” His father quickly crossed the room with only a few steps and reached the clear pod centered in the room. Link looked up into his father’s face and asked: “But can’t you come with me?” His Father smiled sadly down at him, “No. The pod can only sustain one for the journey, but don’t you worry now. I’ll be just fine.” Before Link had a chance to protest, his father placed his small frame in the rescue pod, gave him one last smile, and closed the roof of the pod. Link managed one final glance at his father just in time to see him press the button that would launch him into space with tears streaming down his face. He felt a lurch and his vision went blank.  
\----  
The three days since his wilderness escape had passed by in a blur because of a series of catastrophes at work that had required him to work late every night to deal with them. It had only been a couple of days, but it felt like much longer in his exhausted state. His bosses were constantly on his back about getting their huge project back on schedule after an entire crate of refurbished computers had been destroyed in an accident. It would be too kind to say that Link was unhappy with this new development. He was PISSED, but the only reason he hadn’t snapped at his bosses or his obnoxious co-workers was thinking about Rhett. Rhett freaking McLaughlin.  
He hadn’t stopped thinking about him since he returned home and his face was never far from his mind because his story had continued to be aired on the local news. He hadn’t been able to watch even while the anchors debated his motivations and speculated about his origin. Ha. As if they had any idea about alien races.  
Rhett had been interviewed from his hospital bed and Link breathlessly watched Rhett ask for his hero to come forward. Link’s heart had pounded and his palms had gotten sweaty at Rhett’s words. Hero. He, Link Neal, the most cowardly Kryptonian on Earth was Rhett McLaughlin’s hero. He couldn’t help but laugh at the thought, even if his coworkers looked at him like he was crazy. Maybe he was.  
Rhett had gotten under his skin. Obviously, that was true, because he didn’t make a habit of sitting in his office at midnight staring at his blank computer screen and thinking about strangers. The fact that Rhett was a man was even more of an oddity, but after three days he hadn’t figured out a way to cure himself of his new fixation. No matter how hard he tried, He couldn’t stop reliving the moment when he had wrenched the car door off its hinge and set eyes on Rhett for the first time.  
He didn’t know what to make of all of the emotions that he was feeling, but he was undeniably drawn to this man. Whoever he man was, Link had unconsciously violated all of his self-imposed rules against using his powers in one moment without hesitation and that made him want to know that the person that he had risked everything for was worth it.  
He knew that he would eventually find Rhett, but he wasn’t sure if he was ready to accept the changes that he knew it would bring.  
\------  
Rhett was laying in his hospital bed, staring at the ceiling above him at nothing in particular. If he was being honest, he was bored. Really, really bored. He was also tired. Not physically tired since he had been sleeping more than he had in years since his accident. No. He was tired of the media hounding him constantly because they just couldn’t get enough of the mysterious alien that rescued him from his car. He was tired of giving constant interviews, yes, but he had to admit that he was more than curious about the man who had saved his life. He couldn’t help but wonder who this dark-haired man was or what was he doing at this moment. Of course, He hadn’t personally seen him, but he’d watched countless interviews with witnesses who had recounted the mysterious man’s bravery, his strength, and his compassion when he stayed with him until the police arrived.  
Rhett was concerned, but he wasn’t concerned about the car, insurance would take care of that. He wasn’t concerned about his job since his boss had given him all the time off that he needed to recover. He wasn’t even concerned about his health after his doctor had assured his panicked mother that he would make a full recovery. Only minor cuts and bruises and a pretty nasty concussion, but he had gotten so lucky. He should have died, but that is why he was so concerned about why this man had saved him. It didn’t make sense.  
Rhett had always loved the future and had been especially intrigued when reports of Superman defending Metropolis from alien threats and super villains alike began widely circling the internet. He had been beside himself with excitement when Supergirl had stopped that airliner from crashing in National City, but now he was a little bit more than befuddled about this new hero.  
The man was clearly an alien. It was so obvious that even the idiots on the local news recognized that, but he couldn’t figure out why he had waited so long to reveal himself. Maybe he didn’t think that Earth needed another Kryptonian hero or maybe he just wasn’t interested in being one. Whatever the man’s motives had been before didn’t matter much to him, because Rhett was confident that he would find this man, no matter what it took.  
He had to know why he had lived.  
\----  
Rhett woke up with a start. He quickly glanced around his dark surroundings and checked the clock on the nightstand. It read 4:33 am. He sighed. He was going to be released from the hospital today, but he also knew that at 8:00 sharp, his family would pile into his room and fill it with noise. Despite knowing their good intentions, he couldn’t help but feel exhausted just at the thought of it. He could see through the gap of the curtains covering the hospital window into the darkness and fell back asleep.  
He awoke again at 7:53. Hm. He grabbed the remote from the nightstand and clicked on the crappy tv set hung on the wall across from his bed. He would be so glad when he was finally, finally back in his own home. Of course, the news blared at him instantly, and he couldn’t help but cringe at seeing his own picture staring back at him from the news station. He wasn’t surprised. After all, it wasn’t every day that an alien revealed their presence in rural North Carolina, so he would normally give them the benefit of the doubt except that he was involved.  
It would happen that he would have a fiery collision on the ONLY stretch of highway in North Carolina where a closeted Kryptonian was driving his truck ahead of him. He wasn’t complaining, exactly, I mean he wouldn’t be alive without him, but he was still uncomfortable with the news talking about it 24/7.  
The clock struck 8:00 and his mother appeared in his doorway at 8:01am. She was right on time. As usual.  
Rhett rolled over so he faced away from the door and heard her fidget in the doorway before she said, “Rhett? Are you awake yet?”  
He blinked the sleep out of his eyes and managed to say “Yes Mama”  
She smiled brightly at him. “Well good, I just saw the doctor and he said that he told the nurses to discharge you first thing this morning. Isn’t that exciting?”  
Yep. It was the best news he had heard in days. “That’s really good, Mama. Is Dad not coming?”  
“No, he had to go teach a seminar at Campbell, but he sends his love.”  
The minutes seem to stretch into hours as his mother filled his silence with small talk about life back home in Buies Creek. She told him all the news about marriages and divorces, about new babies and grown ones. He could tell she was reaching for more things to say when a nurse knocked on the door of his room.  
He greeted her with a smile and she said, “Hello Mr. McLaughlin. How are we doing this morning?”  
He stretched his arms above his head and said “I’m doing just fine, thank you.”  
She quickly conducted a once over of Rhett’s vitals and all of his paper and said, “Well, everything looks just fine, the doctor looked over your vitals this morning and said that you could be discharged this morning. Rhonda is completing the paperwork right now.”  
He got dressed without ceremony in clothes that his mother had gotten from his apartment and sat back on the edge of the hospital bed to wait for the nurse to return. It felt like years before the nurse returned with a wheelchair. They descended to the bottom floor of the hospital and before he knew it he was being wheeled out of the hospital doors and into the sunlight for the first time in days. It felt like heaven on his skin and he hadn’t noticed they had crossed the parking lot until they reached his mother’s Dodge Caravan.  
His mom drove him to his apartment, where she helped him up the stairs and onto his couch before telling him to call her if he needed anything.  
He fell into a dreamless sleep.  
\---  
Link stood in front of a non-descript apartment building in a hipster neighborhood in Raleigh. He had never been there before, but it was nice enough.  
His heart was racing, his palms were sweaty, and he couldn’t stop fidgeting. Link had finally broken down and looked up Rhett McLaughlin in the phonebook for the Raleigh area. He had no way of knowing if this was the Rhett McLaughlin that he was looking for unless he knocked on his door.  
He opened the door and walked into a nice lobby. He took the stairs two at a time until he found the correct apartment. He knocked on the door and held his breath.  
A few seconds later an extremely tall man opened the door. “Can I help you?”  
He missed his reply because he was too taken aback by the sight before him. It was Rhett. He realized that he hadn’t responded with embarrassment and softly asked “Yes. Are you Rhett McLaughlin?”  
Rhett looked annoyed and said “Yes, And who are you?”  
Link took a deep breath and said “I’m Link Neal and I saved your life four days ago.”  
Link heard Rhett sigh and say “Well, I guess you’d better come in.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this happened. I hope you enjoyed it. Feel free to leave feedback in the comments BYMB!

**Author's Note:**

> For the sake of this story, Raleigh, NC does exist in the DC Comics Universe along with Buies Creek even though I didn't specifically name it as Link's hometown. Leave a comment with any feedback if you'd like... BYMB!


End file.
